Suicides were 4 percent of O.C. deaths in 2012

Despite numerous programs aimed at helping, suicides in Irvine and other Orange County cities remain steady.

As of September, four suicides have been reported in Irvine this year and seven in 2012. According to the Orange County Coroner’s annual report, 298 people committed suicide countywide in 2012, accounting for 4 percent of all deaths that year.

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention says someone dies every 15 minutes in the United States by suicide. The foundation sponsored the walk Sunday in Irvine.

Experts cite many reasons people take their own lives, some of them complex.

Dr. Jody Rawles, an associate professor at UCI who has practiced psychiatry for 12 years, said some of the age groups currently struggling with suicide and depression are teenagers and elderly people. While teenagers struggle with the transitions of adolescence, older people face medical problems, retirement and the death of loved ones.

Newer generations, he said, face struggles with societal expectations and also a tough job market. And because of a stigma associated with mental illness, people often wait too long to get help, choosing to self-medicate with drugs or alcohol.

Rawles said most people face depression at some point, but what sometimes makes people kill themselves is an intense level of anxiety that superimposes itself over their depression.

“If people just get help during those times, that anxiety will often go away in 24 to 48 hours,” Rawles said.